How to finish a PhD and have successful viva

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Responses
• Always be courteous to your examiners
• They are not attacking you personally, but the work:
this is their role
• If you do not understand a question, ask them to
clarify what they mean
• Better than starting o! on the wrong foot
• Your thesis will have shortcomings and
limitations
• Don’t be afraid to admit it
www.inf.kcl.ac.uk
Examiners: stupidity
• Sometimes, examiners like to ask apparently
stupid questions to ensure that you can discuss
issues sensibly and coherently
• Sometimes they simply try to see if you can
identify that what they’re arguing is not sensible
• Some examiners deliberately say that they
couldn’t see reference to X in your thesis (even
when they have seen it) to work out if you did
actually write the thesis!
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Who’s the expert?
• Remember that of all the people sitting in the
room, you are the expert in the particular topic
of your PhD
• You know it better than anybody else
• Don’t be afraid to argue your case based on
what you have done
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Responses
• If an examiner points out something not
addressed, then admit it and explain why you
have chosen not to deal with this issue
• If an examiner asks about some related work
that you don’t know about, say so
• Some people say that you should concede to the
examiners at least once in the viva!
• If you genuinely do not know the answer to a
question then say so.
www.inf.kcl.ac.uk